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My First World (wonderfully creative title, i know)

Hi everyone,

in case you couldn't read the title, this is a thread dedicated to the mapping of a world that i am making for a custom D&D 4e campaign. this thread will cover the mapping of the continent, and then individual cities, as well as example buildings from each city. the world is not complete in any way, and more cities will be added along the way.
any and all suggestions are welcome, as this is the first time i've ever seriously tried to map out the world. i have CC3, and am learning the basics as to how it works, so if there are suggestions regarding mapping style, please keep that in mind.

okay, now that i have that out of the way, let me introduce the world. the continent where everything will take place is called Kulros. a very long time ago, a cataclysm occured - a massive meteor smashed into the southern end of the landmass, fracturing the tectonic plate that Kulros was located on, and turning the entire landmass into a massive mountain range. the only real flat ground is artificial. here is my first sketch of Kulros, along with a cleaned up version i made in Inkscape:
in both you should be able to see where exactly the meteor struck. the Inkscape version shows the temperature/foliage density, with the south being more tropical and lush, and the north being cold and relatively barren.

regarding cities, the major means of transport is by airship. there isn't enough flat ground for roads, so airships are prevalent, along with the less prevalent water ship transport. because of this, almost all cities/towns have some sort of airship dock - Skydocks. if you want i can list and provide descriptions of each city i have come up with so far, but i am not ready to map those yet. i want to finish mapping the landmass first.

so, what i am currently attempting to do is put what i have so far for the map into CC3. so any help there is appreciated.

also, sorry about the really long post, i'll try to keep them more succinct from now on.

i like this idea, very interesting... however, your choice of going with 4e D&D is something that i don't understand... i thought 4e sucked, but that's my own personal opinion. anyway, this looks good, i'll be keeping an eye on this to see how it turns out.

sorry about not posting for so long, but i have run into some problems in making my map in CC3, and can't seem to get past them. i would try using GIMP or something else, but right now i only have access to two computers - the first is a very old desktop that has 512 mb of RAM, the other is a laptop with 2 gb of RAM, but doesn't stay on for more than 20 minutes at a time, before shutting down. however, i should be getting a new laptop within the next week. so i should have something to show for soon.

@TheKid
I am fairly new to D&D - i've only been playing for a little more than a year. from what i've heard, people either hate 4e or love it. i've also heard that 4e is easier for those who are new to D&D, but it scaled back a lot of customization from 3.5. personally, i stuck with 4e because if i decided to go back to 3.5 i would've had to buy the core rulebooks again - and we all know how expensive those can get. also, when i started playing, i started as the DM for a group comprised completely of people who had had little to no experience playing D&D. so those are my reasons for going with 4e.

i digress.

anyways, as i've been thinking about my world due to my inability to map it at this time, i've thought about airships, and the cities. one of the cities/locations is called The Vault.
here's what i have on it so far. It is built halfway up the most foreboding spire of unforgiving rock in the southernmost edge of the northernmost landmass (i will place cities on my map when i post it later this week). it is a bank the size of a small city, with a guard force the size of a small army. this is the kind of bank where the wealthiest people in Kulros keep their vast fortunes. it's only entrance is a near impregnable fortress that is accessible only by airship, and the airship dock is indoors. the local pirates/orcs/raiders have only tried to attack it once - and they were sorely beaten. i want this place to be like an underground labyrinth of tunnels and shafts. and that is where i need help - designing this three dimensional nightmarish maze of a bank. i'll start working on it on my own, but any and all suggestions are welcome. i will also be checking the other forums on this site for a tutorial i could use.

fair enough, makes sense to me, though i do know what you mean about previous imitations youve imposed on yourself getting in the way of new features. perhaps come up with one island where the mountainous area is only along one size, allowing enough area for a small desert. remember even relatively 'small' islands like new zealand have desert-regions